Interview: Expedia CEO Envisions Direct Competition With Airbnb Over Next Few Years
Photo Credit: Expedia Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi thinks the competition with Airbnb has been a sideshow but will be increasingly direct in coming years as Expedia and HomeAway build up apartment and home inventory in cities. Flickr.com / George Grinsted
Skift Take
HomeAway, as it becomes part of Expedia Inc., will become more urban-oriented, and Airbnb is determined to onboard vacation rentals in resort locations. All of which means that Expedia, Airbnb, and Booking.com will increasingly butt heads over the next few years.
The competition between HomeAway, which primarily features vacation rentals in resort areas, and urban-oriented Airbnb hasn't been head-on for the most part.
But Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Expedia Inc., which is in the process of acquiring HomeAway, believes the battles between Expedia and Airbnb, and Booking.com, will become increasingly direct over the next few years.
"I would say from the start to the next two to three years, we're [Expedia-HomeAway and Airbnb] going to be working in parallel with similar solutions, but in different markets," Khosrowshahi said. "I think in three to five years, we will increasingly move into the urban space. And certainly Hotels.com, Expedia, Orbitz, and Travelocity bring a lot more urban demand, and I think we'll take advantage of that urban demand to build up Homeaway's supply in those urban destinations. Then you are going to get competition. Direct competition."
Skift sat down with Khosrowshahi November 19 at the Phocuswright conference i
